PANAJI
The High Court of Judicature at Bombay has restrained the further public dissemination of certain statements allegedly made against real estate firm House of Abhinandan Lodha Private Limited, as the realty firm has filed a Rs 15 crore defamation suit against a Goan activist.
Justice Arif Doctor, hearing a civil defamation suit filed by the company and another plaintiff against Swapnesh Sherlekar and others, passed an interim direction that the alleged defamatory statements shall not further be disseminated to the public at large till the next hearing on July 2.
The court order came after the firm argued that “loose and defamatory statements” were causing grave harm to its reputation and were being widely circulated and reported publicly.
During the hearing, the plaintiffs tendered draft amendments to the plaint containing extracts of the material alleged to be defamatory. The court allowed the amendments to be carried out within a week and dispensed with reverification.
During the hearing, counsel for the activist opposed the plea for immediate interim relief and sought time to file a reply affidavit. He argued that there was no urgency in the matter as the statements dated back to 2024 and were also part of an ongoing Public Interest Litigation before the Goa bench of the High Court.
He further submitted that the statements were based on ‘cogent material’ and said the defence would also question why the High Court’s original jurisdiction had been invoked when the “entire so-called cause of action” had arisen in Goa.
After hearing both sides, Justice Doctor observed that the activist should be allowed to justify the statements attributed to him through a reply affidavit. At the same time, the court said the plaintiffs were justified in seeking protection against further dissemination of the statements pending further consideration of the matter.
